THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE U.S MEDIA 2015

Media Matters also parsed guests’ gender on Sunday morning
shows—all of which have white men at the helm
Though Dana Bash was the temporary female replacement for Candy Crowley, the
woman anchor who departed CNN’s “State of the Union” in December 2014, that network
in April 2015 installed Jake Tapper as the show’s official host. That made Tapper
one of the five white males helming the main Sunday morning news analysis shows.
In its second annual State of the Sunday Morning Political Talk Shows report, Media
Matters for America covered these, among other, findings of how white men—whether
news anchors or invited analysts—dominate those shows:
Overall, in 2014, 61 percent of expert guests were white men; 20 percent were white
women; 14 percent were non-white men; and the remaining guests were non-white
women.
Overall, men accounted for 70 percent of all guests.
CBS’ “Face the Nation” featured the highest number of white men; MSNBC’s “Melissa
Harris-Perry” featured the lowest.
Shows where the number of male guests increased in 2014 were ABC’s “This Week,”
where 73 percent of guests were men, a 1 percentage point spike over 2013; CNN’s
“State of the Union,” where 74 percent of guests were male, a 3 percentage point
increase since 2013; “Melissa Harris-Perry,” where 55 percent of guests were male, a
2 percentage point increase above 2013; and MSNBC’s “Up,” with Steve Kornacki,
where 65 percent of guests were male, a 4 percentage point increase from 2013.
The number of male guests on “Fox News Sunday” dropped 1 percentage, to 77
percent, since 2013; and, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” there was a 2 percentage point
drop, with white men accounting for 73 percent of all guests.
CBS’ “Face the Nation,” with 77 percent of guests being male in 2014, saw no change
from 2013.
From 2013 to 2014, the total number of white male and white female guests declined
by 1 percentage point, to 59 percent, on “This Week”; by 2 percentage points, to
65 percent, on “Fox News Sunday”; and by 3 percentage points, to 59 percent, on
“Meet the Press.”
During the same period, the total number of white male and female guests rose 1
percentage point, to 55 percent, on “State of the Union”; 1 percentage point, to 45
percent, on “Melissa Harris-Perry”; and 8 percentage points, to 75 percent, on “Up.”
Gender on Sunday shows
US Population
Men
70%
Source: Media Matters
Gender on
Sunday shows
Women
30%
Graphic produced by the Women’s Media Center
Men
49%
Source: Media Matters
US Population
Women
51%
Graphic produced by the Women’s Media Center
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WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER
The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2015 TOC womensmediacenter.com